I enjoyed a lovely pinot noir over the
weekend.It was easy-drinking, with
bright cherry flavors, earthiness and a clean finish.Made from Central Coast fruit, it paired
nicely with my wife’s homemade turkey tacos.I also poured myself a tasty cabernet
sauvignon.It was smoky and robust.And it was, impressively, sourced from French
Camp in Paso Robles, the celebrated organic vineyard owned by Santa Barbara’s
Miller family, who own and manage famed Bien Nacido Vineyard in Santa Maria,
too.What was especially unique about these
wines, though, was not how they tasted, or their pedigree.It was their packaging.The pinot, on the new Alloy Wine Works label
from San Luis Obispo County's Field Recordings, comes in an aluminum can, just like any
inexpensive beer, complete with popable pull tab.The cabernet comes inside a small cardboard
box – a Tetra Pak is what the producer, CalNaturale, calls it.You open it by twisting a small plastic cap.I’ve always been a traditionalist; it took
me a long time to embrace the industry’s slow move toward screwcaps.So I balked, at first, at the notion of
gulping wine from a can.But these unique
packages do come with perks.Portability, for one: in this season of
beach outings, picnics and camping trips, stuffing a few cans or small boxes of
wine into your bag is easier to do, and more forgiving, than glass
bottles.

And then there’s value.I bought these wines at Nielsen’s Market in
Solvang, which sells 500-ml. cans of Alloy – the pinot noir I mentioned as well
as a grenache rosé – for $7.49.That’s
the equivalent of just over $11 for a standard 750-ml. bottle.The 500-ml. box of cabernet from CalNaturale,
the Northern California producer that also makes a boxed chardonnay, sells for
$5.99 – that’s under $9 if it were a regular bottle, probably the lowest price
for anything ever made from French Camp fruit.You’re not supposed to really sip right out
of the can, of course, or the box.Question
is, once you pour, does it really matter where the wine was housed from the time
it left the barrel to the time it hit your glass?For young wines meant to be drunk young, an
aluminum or paper vessel is just as effective as glass.Image issues aside, the only drawback of the
can may be commitment: if you don’t want to finish the full 500 ml. of pinot,
you’d have to get creative about closing the can back up.The Tetra Pak cap recloses easily, though I
don’t think the cab tasted quite as fresh on day two.

“I
wish more producers started experimenting with these types of closures,” Ozzie
Osmonson told me.He’s the buyer for the
impressive wine department at Nielsen’s, which features a variety of wine cans
and boxes at two different store displays.“You can do a lot more with a can than you can with a bottle, and
they’re just a lot easier to use.”As we
part ways, the fundamentalist voice inside my head wants to argue.Traditional bottles rule!But I find myself agreeing.And I find myself adding a Sofia sparkling
wine to my stash as I head toward checkout; the pretty pink 187-ml. can fits
perfectly in the palm of my hand, comes complete with a tiny straw and costs
just $4.49.Still not convinced?Understandable.But there’s no denying that the trend toward
alternative wine packaging is growing.The classic glass bottle isn’t going the way of the dodo bird anytime
soon, but store shelves are getting increasingly more crowded with wine-filled
cans and boxes of all shapes and sizes.And at such competitive prices, pulling a tab or two may well we worth
the experiment.

This marks another
guest post on my personal blog. Dennis Schaefer and I
share wine columnist duties for the Santa Barbara News-Press, and his
wine descriptions are always genuine, consumer-focused and on point. Of the
rosés featured here, I have to tip my own
hat to the Tercero and the CrossBarn wines, which are remarkable both for
their value and for the quintessential summer sipping they inspire.-- Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoo

Story by Dennis Schaefer, published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on
8/20/15In California, we drink rosé year-round, but
it always seems to taste best during the warmest dog days of summer. Just the
thought of pulling chilled rosé from an ice bucket, the cold droplets of
perspiration dripping from the bottle, makes me salivate.

Oh, it helps if there's some crudités,
salami, olives and artisan bread on the patio table as well. But you get the
picture. Here are some of the top rosé picks of the season.

Tercero Rosé of Mourvedre, Happy Canyon,
Vogelzang Vineyard 2014 ($22): Light salmon in
color, the red berry fruits on the nose jump out of the glass, augmented by
orange blossom and mineral notes. Fruit-forward on the palate, the mourvedre
grape gives a rosé plenty to work with, including flavors of strawberry,
watermelon, cranberry and, best of all, pomegranate, the latter giving the wine
a deeper and more complex underpinning. A wine of substance, it opens up as it
sits in the glass and then finishes with crisp and tangy citrusy acidity.Halter Ranch Estate Rosé, Paso Robles 2014 ($21): Bright garnet in color, this grenache-based rosé has a
nose of cherry, red raspberry, watermelon and rose petal. Both red and dark
cherry fruit come through on the palate, with a bit of a sour twist, then
strawberry Kool-Aid and raspberry chime in along with a tropical touch of guava
on the back end. Sounds complicated, but it all comes together with a fine
focus on midpalate, while savory aspects, that lurk just below the surface, add
to its complexity.Justin Rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso
Robles 2014 ($16): This cabernet
sauvignon-based version, from Justin's flagship grape and picked from a select
vineyard block, is Kool-Aid pink and has a big nose of red cherry and melon
with hints of raspberry, strawberry and even darker fruits in the mix. Hard
candy cherry, strawberry preserves, candied violets, savory herbs and a good
dose of minerality come together on the palate. It's a big rosé capable of
doing business with just about anything at the summer dining table.

Crossbarn by Paul Hobbs Rosé of Pinot Noir,
Sonoma County, Sonoma Coast 2014 ($20):
This distinctive bottling has the pale pink color of Himalayan salt (I know,
because I just bought some), with cherry, strawberry, orange blossom and brewed
hibiscus tea on the nose. Just from the aromatics, it's very expressive yet
seemingly very fragile at the same time. Delicate and multifaceted in the mouth
as well, with flavors of hibiscus tea again, warm white peach skin directly
from being picked, freshly grated jicama and crushed sea shell. Exotically
tantalizing bordering on the erotic, it seems the more you taste it, the less
you understand and the more enchanting it becomes. Great acidity on the upbeat
finish invites another sip. One of the best I've tasted this year.Saved Rosé, "Magic
Marker," California 2014 ($18): Clay Brock, formerly of Zaca Mesa, now of Wild Horse in
Paso Robles, has this "Saved" side project with tattoo artist Scott
Campbell. He sources his fruit for this multi-grape variety blend not only from
Paso Robles but also Monterey and Santa Maria Valley. Beautifully salmon hued
(in a clear bottle), it has a strawberry and tart cherry nose. The strawberry
and red berry flavors are enhanced by the bright, trailing acidity.
Mouth-puckering and piquant, it's on the very dry side on the finish, just the
way I like it. Widely available and a best-buy.

by Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoophotos courtesy of the Willson Familystory published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on 7/30/15

Tyler Willson at his Shepard Mesa vineyard

The Willson
family harvested their pinot noir grapes last week, marking one of the earliest
picks of the 2015 harvest in Santa Barbara County.

“And I’m
glad we got it when we did,” Tyler Willson tells me.“Some of the grapes were starting to split –
because of the recent rains – and the bees were coming,” likely lured by the sweetness
of the exposed sugars.

Willson
Family Vineyard is unique on many fronts.It’s in Carpinteria, for one: a half-acre of Clone 777 pinot noir that
Tyler and his wife, Mia, planted in 2009 in the backyard of their home.“We did it to see if we could,” he says,
echoing the dream scenario for many budding wine enthusiast drawn by the notion
of home grown vines.Three of their
neighbors have joined them, in fact, so that at least a couple of acres in the
foothills of Carpinteria’s Shepard Mesa community are now growing pinot noir and
sauvignon blanc.

Two miles
from the ocean’s edge, just past the fog line’s edge and at an elevation of
about 500 feet, the Willsons’ plot sees pretty dependable weather.Highs hover consistently in the 70s, “and it
never gets too hot during the day or too cold at night, like in Santa Ynez,”
Willson says, so the growing season is steady and long.

The pinot
noir these vines make is a genuine snapshot of the earth that breeds them.It’s not Santa Maria, not Sonoma , not
Burgundy.It’s Shepard Mesa through and
through, with snappy acids, a lean and bouncy mouth feel and bright flavors of
cherries and berries.I’ve tasted the
WIllsons’ inaugural vintage, 2012, and the subsequent 2013 pinot, several
times.

Tyler and Mia Willson

“I know
terrior,” says Willson, who was a distributor for Henry Wine Group several
years ago; he runs a language school today.
“You have to love and take whatever that terroir is giving you, whatever
the climate or the soil happens to be.”

The call to
plant pinot was made with the help of Willson’s friend, Brett Escalera, the winemaking
mastermind behind the Sanger family of wines, including Consilience.“Within reason, he told me, ’Plant what you
like and make it work,’” the bidding vintner recalls.“This was going to be for our consumption and
friends, after all.”

The wine is
made by Fabian Castel, the right hand man for celebrated winemaker Adam Tolmach
at Ojai Vineyard. The wines have been
crushed and crafted at Four Brix Winery in Ventura for the last few years – the
2014 wines were bottled there just last week, after 10 months in oak. But the 2015 vintage marks a move to Tolmach’s
personal facility in the Ojai Valley.

11-year-old Tyson Willson helps with the 2015 harvest

Each harvest,
though, and even much of the physical labor that’s part of the process, is totally
a family affair. Tyler and Mia,
themselves, are the crew, often with the help of their 11-year-old son, Tyson. And even their 7-year-old daughter, Mylie,
likes to roll up her sleeves. “It was so
cool seeing her help clip grape clusters during harvest last week,” her dad
says.

And with
Mylie is where this story takes a heartwarming turn.

Mylie, a
beautiful and vivacious little girl, was born with Down syndrome. “All the tests we took during the pregnancy
came back negative,” Willson tells me.
“We didn’t find out the diagnosis until 24 hours after she was born.” Mylie would see multiple hospitalizations and
surgeries even before age two.

Mylie Willson frolics in her family's vineyard during the 2015 harvest

Necessity (and,
as it turns out, serendipity) led the Willsons to Alpha Resource Center, the
Santa Barbara nonprofit that empowers
developmentally challenged kids, teens and adults through diverse life skill
training programs. They help them secure
housing, train for jobs and find a multitude of creative and recreational
outlets. Alpha impacts more than 2200
local families every day.

“They are
such wonderful people,” says Willson.“Not just for what they’ve done for us, but also for what they do for so
many other people who can’t do it for themselves.”

Mylie helps her dad with harvest

Among the
group’s resources is SlingShot, a working art gallery and studio at 220 W.
Canon Perdido in Santa Barbara where dozens of program participants create and
showcase their artwork in many forms.Visitors get a chance to meet and mingle with the artists at work.And proceeds from the sales of pieces on
display here support Alpha’s ongoing work.

The Willsons
bought a large painting from SlingShot a few years ago – a vibrant, energetic piece
by artist Michael Constantine that they call “Impulse” and that now hangs
prominently in their home.“We looked at
it and immediately thought, ‘That would make a great wine label!’” recalls
Willson.“And that’s when it clicked!”

Artistic
inspiration, it turns out, would create a powerful way for the Willsons to give
back.“Impulse” became the label of the
Willson Family Vineyards’ 2013 Pinot Noir, making each bottle eye-popping and
special.And with the ’14 pinot now in bottle,
the Willsons are looking to select several other works of art – including a
painting called “Poppy” by Alpha artist Megan Isaac – to grace the glass.

2015 pinot noir from the Willson Family Vineyard

So the
Willson pinots have now become a powerful fundraising tool for Alpha Resource
Center.Wine tasting art shows have
started to pop up all over town, most recently at Churchill Jewelers in
downtown Santa Barbara.And SlingShot is
now part of First Thursday festivities in downtown Santa Barbara, drawing the
public in off the street both with art on the walls and Willson pinot in the
glass; the next event is Thursday, August 6th.

“We’re also working
on a silent auction for next year,” Willson says, “where bidders can take home
original works of art along with cases of our pinot that feature that same
piece right on the label.”

For more
information on Alpha Resource Center and SlingShot, visit www.alphasb.org.

About Me

Welcome to the online home of Gabe Saglie. Gabe is Senior Editor for Travelzoo and a respected travel contributor for dozens of TV news programs and national shows. Gabe is also a longtime wine and food writer based in Santa Barbara, California, where he lives with his wife, two boys and daughter.